Following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, photographers and documentarians Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression made multiple trips to the no-go zone, photographing former residents of the region nearly five years later. Here, Midori Ito is staged in an abandoned supermarket in the prohibited city of Namie. Just after the disaster, Midori Ito evacuated to Minami Aizu for fear of health risks associated with radioactivity.
Following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown, photographers and documentarians Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression made multiple trips to the no-go zone, photographing former residents of the region nearly five years later. Here, Midori Ito is staged in an abandoned supermarket in the prohibited city of Namie. Just after the disaster, Midori Ito evacuated to Minami Aizu for fear of health risks associated with radioactivity.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
"It was really important that they were not models," Bression told CNN in an email. "All of them have a story related to accident. We asked former residents or inhabitant from the Fukushima region, and in some cases, the actual owners of certain properties, to join us inside the no-go zone and open the doors to these ordinary, but now unfriendly, places."
"It was really important that they were not models," Bression told CNN in an email. "All of them have a story related to accident. We asked former residents or inhabitant from the Fukushima region, and in some cases, the actual owners of certain properties, to join us inside the no-go zone and open the doors to these ordinary, but now unfriendly, places."
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Kanoko Sato stands in a destroyed gym in Ukedo.
Kanoko Sato stands in a destroyed gym in Ukedo.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Masayoshi Kawada sits in a ramen restaurant in Namie.
Masayoshi Kawada sits in a ramen restaurant in Namie.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Mikaze Risa Sato and Kumakura are staged in a karaoke bar in Namie. Natives of Koriyama, they had not visited the region since it was abandoned during the nuclear disaster.
Mikaze Risa Sato and Kumakura are staged in a karaoke bar in Namie. Natives of Koriyama, they had not visited the region since it was abandoned during the nuclear disaster.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Yasushi Ishizuka is staged in a pachinko (Japanese arcade) in Tomioka.
Yasushi Ishizuka is staged in a pachinko (Japanese arcade) in Tomioka.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Hidemasa and Michiko Otaki are staged in Tomioka, a town hit hard by the tsunami and evacuated after the nuclear accident. "After the accident, we moved from shelter to shelter, I started cutting hair and one day talking with another refugee, she told me that a house was available in the Nakoso neighborhood of the city of Iwaki. This is where I live for over two years now."
Hidemasa and Michiko Otaki are staged in Tomioka, a town hit hard by the tsunami and evacuated after the nuclear accident. "After the accident, we moved from shelter to shelter, I started cutting hair and one day talking with another refugee, she told me that a house was available in the Nakoso neighborhood of the city of Iwaki. This is where I live for over two years now."
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Noboru Eda stands in an abandoned music store in Namie.
Noboru Eda stands in an abandoned music store in Namie.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Bression says the project could have been focused on any crisis where people have to leave the security of their own homes and the familiarity of their everyday surroundings. "What we really wanted is to focus the discussion on what the inhabitants express right now and have to face in the future."
Bression says the project could have been focused on any crisis where people have to leave the security of their own homes and the familiarity of their everyday surroundings. "What we really wanted is to focus the discussion on what the inhabitants express right now and have to face in the future."
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas
Shigeko Watanabe ran a small printing press in the city center of Namie. Since the disaster, she never restarted her business.
Shigeko Watanabe ran a small printing press in the city center of Namie. Since the disaster, she never restarted her business.
Carlos Ayesta/Guillaume Bression/Hans Lucas